Heavy rush in banks after reports of strikes on 21st, 26th December 2018

Ashwani Rana, VP National Organisation of Bank Workers says all unions will take part in the strikes and rules out withdrawing the call

Thursday December 20, 2018 3:39 PM, ummid.com News Network

Mumbai: Heavy rush and long queues of panicked customers and account holders are seen in banks after reports of strikes by officers and staff on Friday December 21 and Wednesday December 26, 2018 in the media went viral on social media.

Customers and account holders panicked as banks will be closed for five consecutive days, except Monday, if bank associations indeed go ahead with their planned strikes.

The All India Bank Officers Confederation (AIBOC) has called for a day-long strike on Friday (December 21) to highlight the association's demand for full and unconditional mandate for the XIth Bipartite wage revision talks which is based on May, 2017 charter of demands.

On the other hand, the United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU) has given a call for another strike on coming Wednesday i.e. December 26, 2018. Banks will be closed on December 22, 2018 as it coincides with 4th Saturday. December 23, 2018 is SUnday and Teuesday December 25, 2018 is a bank holiday on account of Christmas. It means in the next six days banks will be open only on Monday December 24.

The bank officers have rejected calls from the Indian Banks Association (IBA) for calling off their strike as they claim that there has been no "perceptible movement" on their demand, almost 20 months after the talks stated.

"It is nothing but a farcical logic to restrict the wage negotiations up to the officers in scale III, whereas the entire officer community is covered under Unified Service Regulations", the bankers association said in a statement.

The bank unions are also upset over the merger of Bank of Baroda (BoB), Dena Bank, and Vijaya Bank. The merger of these three banks was approved by the government in September this year.

Ashwani Rana, the vice president of National Organisation of Bank Workers, has said all unions under UFBU will take part in the strikes and ruled out withdrawing the call. The UFBU is an umbrella body comprising of 9 employee and officer unions.